Towards the Sun
by PromisedSword
Summary: Fifty sentences in the lives of ninja, spanning from before the series, to its very conclusion. A general 1sentence set. Various pairings.


So...! I'm back, and with all my unconsciously repressed fic ideas. Because seriously? I wrote this in three days. No kidding. It's another 1sentence set, with a word list picked out by my lovely sister, with a few changes by me. But instead of a specific pairing, it's a general fandom set. Because right now I'm in love with a millionbillion characters who all deserve love.

Now, I left a lot of them kinda vague, especially about who the subject is, so if you are unclear on anything, PM me. Later I'll have some comments on specific words on my profile, so check for that. But until then, enjoy!

* * *

**_Towards the Sun_**

**01 **_**Change**_

Her Jyuuken is getting stronger; her aim surer; her eyes keener…and every time Hinata falls, she stands back up again.

**02 **_**Speed**_

Tenten knew she would never be as quick as Neji or Lee--still, she trains as hard as she can, until the blades of her weapons are moving so fast they are nothing but arcs of light flashing on steel.

**03 **_**Snakes**_

His affection, false--his feelings, cruel; "I love you," he says to her, and she wants to believe, but she just…_can't_…

**04 **_**Artwork**_

It was the thing that brought them together; the thing that caused fights, the thing that they had in common…and in the end, the thing that tore them apart.

**05 **_**Doubt**_

For a long time, Chouji doubted himself (the memories of weakness and shame chasing him wherever he went)--now, when he closes his eyes, he sees the faces of his friends, and with them the strength he needs to keep going.

**06 **_**Crash and Burn**_

Black eyes swirl red, the commas spinning into blades; he pulls his fist from his _best friend's _stomach, and lets the rain wash the blood from his hands.

**07 **_**Waltz **_

He draws his sword, turns to face the pink-haired kunoichi--_dance with me…_

**08 **_**Wishes**_

A smart girl cuts her hair, a shy one watches closely, a blonde picks petals off her father's flowers; though they are ninja first, they cannot forget that they are _also_ women.

**09 **_**Obsession**_

It tore his mind open, like the shuriken that accidentally cut him while his brother practiced (it seems so long ago…) and now, when Sasuke tries to remember the face of his mother, it is the cruel eyes of the Mangekyou Sharingan that glare back at him instead.

**10 **_**Nowhere**_

She folds and folds, the paper making quiet sounds as she works--the pure white mirroring the barrenness of the world outside Headquarters--but she loses herself in the millions of white layers and tries not to think of the way her leader's arm felt around her yesterday.

**11 **_**Destiny**_

_You will never be strong--a failure is always a failure--you must bow down to your fate_; he hears the words, and knows by the look in her eyes that she will not let that happen.

**12 **_**Monster**_

He stands before the quivering figure, (once a part of them; now nothing but a disgrace to his most glorious organization) bowed before his feet in a plea for mercy…but Pein looks down at the man and there is no mercy in his eyes, only justice.

**13 **_**Rumors**_

"Did you hear…twenty five and still not married…" Ino hears the women talking behind her and flicks a kunai to the ground at their feet--as she watches them scatter, she thinks that sometimes being a ninja has its perks.

**14 **_**Sacrifice**_

He feels the strike to his chest, (_Do you have…_) every drop of blood that drips from the wound is agony, but he does not fall: (_someone precious in your life…?_) Zabuza-san needs him.

**15 **_**Valiant**_

This village was his life; everything he loved lay within it…so when he goes to meet the fox, he does not look back, and lets the tears linger in his eyes…

**16 **_**Future**_

It was only for an instant: their eyes met, then looked away in less than a second; as Haku watches the boy run away, he has no idea the truth of the words he speaks, or of the fate they will both share…

**17 **_**Despair**_

There's pain—and agony—sleepless nights—the mark throbs in time—to the beating of her heart—blood—he won't hold back fighting her—cramps—muscle spasms—scars—she sobs and sobs—_I want to go home­_—and everywhere those golden eyes follow her… and Anko knows that she is alone.

**18 **_**Hope**_

He smiles at her, and in her heart, a small flower blooms.

**19 **_**Fall**_

At the Hyuuga ball, Ino stands alone in a corner and watches Sasuke smile at Sakura while they dance; suddenly, there is Neji, a hand held out to her--"Would you care to dance, Yamanaka-san…?"

**20 **_**Hollow**_

It was your duty to protect the Hyuuga heir, but you found no pleasure in it; she was only a reminder of the people who ruined your life--it was no wonder, then, that when her bleeding body fell to the floor, you could only look down with contempt.

**21 **_**Red**_

She was bleeding; _dying_ on that forest floor, and she reaches out to him, (help me save me damn it damn you _damn you_) and Orochimaru only looks down and says to her, "Red was never your color, Anko."

**22 **_**Ghost**_

Sasuke is never alone in the Uchiha complex; his clan is always with him, whispering to him in the darkness with the voice of a snake _Avenge us…let us rest in peace…give us the head of Uchiha Itachi…_and before long, they are all he can hear.

**23 **_**Believe**_

He had faith in her when no one else did; he knew that she could be strong when she herself doubted it…"Naruto-kun," Hinata says to him; "I _know_ you can become Hokage."

**24 **_**Mad**_

Everyone thought him crazy, that he would never give up on the one person he was not able to save; but he sees her with the same conviction in _her_ eyes…and thinks that if he is crazy, then they will go to the madhouse together.

**25 **_**Boxed**_

Tenten feels the kimono tight around her legs, unused to the restriction of her movements; her feet stumble as she tries to make her steps small.

**26 **_**Caught**_

(It is said that animals will sometimes chew their own limbs off to escape from traps)--Kiba grits his teeth, and sets the kunai to his other arm…

**27 **_**Contradiction**_

His life was one big contradiction: hated when he should have been loved; smiling when he should have been crying; messing around when he should have been working hard--nine years old, Naruto raises his head to the heavens, and shouts so loud he was sure all of Konoha heard him (it was his intention after all) "I _will_ become Hokage, and I'll show everyone who thinks otherwise!"

**28 **_**Cunning**_

He could not live the way he did; not feeling, not loving…so he stains his blade red and ruins his brother's life (_You do not hate enough…_) because Sasuke is the only one who can free him.

**29 **_**Motion**_

In one motion, Ino slips the kimono off, and stands before the man, (she does not even know his last name…) naked but for the poisoned comb that held up her long hair.

**30 **_**Learn**_

Some things came instinctively, (how to hold a kunai, how to gather chakra, how to plan an infiltration mission with an 89 percent success rate) but others did not--blushing, Temari turns to Ino and asks how best to ask Shikamaru out.

**31 **_**Memory**_

Before she died, Mikoto's last thoughts were of three things: Itachi, the way he used to be; Fugaku, smiling as he talked about his youngest son, and Sasuke, who was practicing his shuriken _right now_…

**32 **_**Night**_

The moon is full, and his eyes see a vision of a land tainted red; Gaara opens his mouth, and laughs insanely above the bloody corpse.

**33 **_**Obstacle**_

Lee was the weakest in his class; no talent in ninjutsu or genjutsu to make him a ninja…so he sets his fist against the training dummy, and pours all his sorrow into hard punches.

**34 **_**Toxic**_

Though his subject screamed, and tried to pull away (useless; the leather straps held tight), Kabuto just smiled, and plunged the syringe deep into her arm.

**35 **_**Torn**_

The day Asuma died, Kurenai tore her favorite vest; later, she stitches it back together, and wishes that her heart would mend as easily.

**36 **_**Abandoned**_

They tear into the dark; they cry and shout and fight; they bleed, and scream curses into the open sky, because it is the only way to forget a past where something needed was taken away from them.

**37 **_**Love Letter**_

In one of the storage rooms of the Hyuuga complex, there is a box filled with unsent letters, each one addressed 'to Uzumaki Naruto-kun.'

**38 **_**Dream**_

Between tending the flower shop and going on missions with her team, Ino dares to dream of the things she will probably never get: a marriage to Sasuke, a real dress to wear, a friendship restored with Sakura--and though they are just dreams, sometimes they are enough.

**39 **_**Hello**_

They meet on the bridge, and though his name has been on her lips for the past three years, she finds she cannot speak…

**40 **_**Ice**_(Companion to **41 **_**Fire**_)

He lay there, at last as dead outside as he was inside; the only thing remaining the same was that the space in his chest where his heart should be was as cold as ever.

**41 **_**Fire**_(Companion to **40 **_**Ice**_)

The clay seems to set like a weight upon his heart, but the pressure is only temporary, because now he is alight, and it is not blood that runs in his veins, but light and fire, tearing him apart from the inside out; never has there been a more beautiful display of art…and never will there be again.

**42 **_**Breathe**_

Step forward, push back--one breath; two--in the early morning quiet, the only sound heard is the rush of air as the katana slices through intricate patterns, and a long, laboring cough between each kata.

**43 **_**Haunted**_

Sasuke turns his head; his teammate sees the black marks staining his skin, and the one, inhuman eye staring wide…and Naruto swears he can hear a haunting melody begin not too far off.

**44 **_**Infamy**_

They are known in every village across the land; there are wanted posters for them everywhere; the black cloak with red clouds is as much a signal for death as any order from a Kage…but what no one knows is that they are already falling apart.

**45 **_**Jaded**_

"After a while," Anko says, face already flushed with sake, "There are only two things that can take away the memories we carry: death, or getting drunk enough to think you already are."

**46 **_**Innocence**_

"Orochimaru-sama," the white-haired boy kneels, and his heart leaps with joy as the slender hand reaches down and slides a finger across the nape of his neck; _I would do anything for you…_

**47 **_**Strength**_

To stand when your body cannot hold you; to slash with a kunai though your eyes are blurred with tears; to sacrifice yourself so that others may go on…that is the true strength of Konoha ninja, and the one thing in which no other village can match them.

**48 **_**Silence**_

She stitched up his wounds in silence, wrapping bandages tightly around his torso and left arm, and the unsaid question weighs between them…the answer apparent in the lack of another patient lying beside the white-haired sage.

**49 **_**Bleed**_

She will not be taken back to base--the mission was too important; "Forget that," Shizune barks to Genma, "just gimme a bandage and some antiseptic!"

**50 **_**Blurred**_

And after a while, all the pain of their younger years seemed to fade--Naruto became Hokage, the girls found their loves, and Uchiha Sasuke came home.


End file.
